Top 10 Business Tips From This Week's OPEN Forum

No time to read this week? Here are our favorite 10 tips from this week's top OPEN Forum stories.

1. Register any phone numbers you can on the Do Not Call list. Telemarketing calls are on the rise (up 162 percent in the last year) and are a drain on productivity. Nip annoying spam calls in the bud by putting your number on the Do Not Call list. Though the list is more to safeguard personal phone numbers, telemarketers will avoid calling any number with that protection.(From "How Telemarketers are Stealing Your Time (and How to Stop Them)," by Kelly Spors)

2. Show how your company is different from your competition. This is always good practice, but it is especially important for businesses in a much-criticized or controversial industry. By immediately telling your customers why you're better than the general perception of your line of work, you'll gain respect for what you do—and hopefully new clients. (From "4 Ways to Fight Your Industry's Image Problems," by Geoff Williams)

3. Create a business plan for your life. Put that same vision and drive that you put into your business into your personal life, advises OPEN Forum writer Bruna Martinuzzi. "Start with a vision statement of how you want to be with your spouse, children, friends and your community (outside of your work environment)," she writes. "This will be your compass to remind you when you lose yourself in your business and stray away from your ideal self."(From "6 Ways a Business Plan Can Improve Your Personal Life," by Bruna Martinuzzi)

4. Know who your audience is. Every week we talk about content marketing, and for good reason: More brands and companies are putting money behind content as a new way to engage and reach customers. Those looking to add content to their marketing strategy should first know who their audience is. Create a demographic and psychographic of who you're trying to reach. " With this information, content marketers craft sales letters, blogs and other content that sells hundreds of millions of dollars in products and services every year," writes Jayson DeMers, the founder and CEO of AudienceBloom, a content marketing services company. (From "10 Truths Every Great Content Marketer Knows," by Jayson DeMers)

5.Create a triage system for your email. Smart phones and other Internet-enabled devices can create a stressful environment that can make us feel like we're always on call. That's why it's important to create distance between you and your gadgets. One great piece of advice? "Use instant messaging internally for things that are urgent, email for things that need a response within 24 hours and project management software for long-term projects," advises Andrew Angus, the founder of animated video company Switch Video. (From "Technostress Alert: Is Email Literally Killing Us?," by Andrew Angus)

6. Provide great service and create customer delight.It's one of the secrets to These Are Things, an Ohio-based design and illustration company. Jen Adrion and Omar Noory's sweet and sincere brand of customer service—nice thank-you notes, speedy delivery—engenders good will and positive word of mouth from all of their customers.(From "'How Two Young Entrepreneurs Navigated Their Unexpected Success," by Chris Guillebeau)

7. Attend only one convention event a year. "If you get one good idea from an industry convention, conventional wisdom—no pun intended—says it was worth the expense," quips writer Jason Brick. But tack on another convention, and another, and another? You're looking at an expense that can run you upward of five figures. That's money you can (and should) put toward your business! (From "8 Ways Your Business Is Hemorrhaging Money," by Jason Brick)

8. Understand what happens in an audit. A tax audit can be a scary experience for any business owner. But when you know what to expect, you can begin to prepare the best course of action if you're ever on the receiving end of an audit letter from Uncle Sam. (From "Audit Nightmares: How to Cope When the IRS Comes Knocking," by Kelly Spors)

9. Add some personality to your website. As more entrepreneurs cultivate their personal brands, you'll need to stand out from the crowd. That's why it's important for your personal website to be unique and convey who you are. Write a unique bio or share some of your humor with visitors to attract the attention of clients, journalists or investors. (From "The Beginner's Guide to Building a Personal Website," by Erica Swallow)

10. Don't judge your business by another business's insane success. The entrepreneurs behind WhatsApp's $19 billion payday may serve as an inspiration for small-business owners everywhere, but don't pivot your business just to attract a Zuckerberg-fueled acquisition, writes small-business expert Barry Moltz. "Forget the giant risks," writes Moltz. "It's much safer and ultimately more effective to make a small decision, examine its result and learn what you can from it." (From "Why Facebook Buying WhatsApp is Bad for Entrepreneurs," by Barry Moltz)